Bangladesh’s information and communication technology firms have been gradually gaining a strong foothold on the global arena with promising prospects in the field of software and Internet of Thingsdriven product and service development waiting to be grabbed ahead of the fourth industrial revolution.
Along with drawing global attention by exporting products and services, the country’s ICT firms have also been successfully fulfilling the highend technological needs of local businesses, corporate houses, banks and government agencies.
Even though the coronavirus outbreak hit the economy hard in the initial stages, the outbreak has also opened up new opportunities for the sector since most firms have seen sharp growths in revenue in recent months with some companies reporting growths of around 70 to 80 per cent, said businesses.
Online transaction management, online education management along with content development, telemedicine and business processing have emerged as major sectors for software and ICT firms to be explored in the new normal after the COVID-19 outbreak.
In terms of export, 188 local firms have already registered with the Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services as ICT product and service exporters exporting to around 80 destinations across the globe while a large number of firms and individual freelancers are exporting products and services about which there is no database.
Apart from exporting ICT products and services, a number of entities have started to produce ICT and IOT devices and artificial intelligence- and cloud-based solutions for different countries.
Of the 188 entities, four companies have started providing ICT-related services to government agencies in different countries.
The central bank provided Tk 216 crore in 2019 and 2020 in cash incentives against the export of ICT-based products and services.
BASIS sources said that the country’s export of software and ICT products has already exceeded more than $1 billion and was eyeing to achieve an annual export worth $5 billion by the year 2024.
In terms of providing local services, 31 out of 58 banks have availed core banking solutions from Bangladeshi software vendors and developers along with many microcredit firms, non-bank financial institutions, brokerage firms and garment industries.
By providing CBS to the banks, local firms have saved around Tk 1,000 crore as each CBS developed by foreign firms cost between Tk 30 crore and Tk 40 crore while locally developed solutions come at a cost of Tk 8 crore to Tk 12 crore.
Locally and internationally, the demand for software and ICT-driven products and services would see a sharp rise as people become habituated to online shopping and service procurement after the COVID-19 outbreak, Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services president Syed Almas Kabir told New Age.
Software developers and information and communication technology businesses have the potential to give new dimensions to the country’s economy given the required manpower if the country can prepare itself for the fourth industrial revolution, DataSoft managing director Mahboob Zaman told New Age.
Re-scaling human resources based on the needs of the industry would help the country to explore the field of smart homes, smart offices, smart cities, augmented reality, virtual reality, IoT, big data analytics, artificial intelligence and fintech more effectively.
Stating that collaboration between industry and universities was vital for development of need-based human resources, Mahboob said, ‘Such collaboration is hardly seen in our country.’
DataSoft, a CMMI level 5 certified software product and service company, has created an IoT-based toll management system for the Democratic Republic of Congo in Africa and is providing software development solutions to multinational company Johnson ControlsHitachi Air Conditioning for the running of artificial intelligence- and cloud-based air conditioning systems in Japan.
Apart from these, the entity has also provided solutions for the automation of the Dhaka and Chattogram customs houses and has received much global attention after implementation of the project, the DataSoft chief said.
Another firm called Dream71 Bangladesh was awarded the task to develop two educational videogames for the Southeast Asian nation of East Timor located in the Pacific by the United Nations Development Programme among 38 other firms from Bangladesh, India, Australia, Brazil, Vietnam and the Philippines, BASIS director and Dream71 managing director Rashad Kabir told New Age.
Local technology firm DohaTec designed the electronic government procurement system for Bhutan after the successful rollout of the country’s e-GP system.
Kazi IT works on the US market while Reve Systems works in different countries, including Singapore.
Like these companies, many other software and ICT firms in the country have managed to get a foothold on the global market, including the United Kingdom, the US, Middle East, Europe, African and Asia.
Speaking about the major challenges faced by the sector, Syed Almas Kabir, Mahboob Zaman and Rashad Kabir emphasised human resource development based on the future needs of the sector so that the sector can take advantage of the opportunities that will arise in the upcoming fourth industrial revolution.
They also underlined the need for adopting an integrated plan that would guide students from school to university levels to acquire the skills required to cope with the needs of the future.
Posts and telecommunications minister Mustafa Jabbar, also a former president of BASIS, thinks that the country’s education curriculum from the primary to the university levels are far away from developing the required manpower for the sector.
The required manpower development would not be possible without bringing about gross changes in the education curriculum, he said.
‘It would not be possible for us to gain any benefit out of the fourth industrial revolution with the existing manpower,’ Jabbar said, adding that the Information Communication Technology Division had taken some initiatives to train people but those skills were only fit for very low-end tasks.
‘Education in programming should be incorporated at the primary level. Otherwise it would be difficult for children to cope at the university level,’ he said, adding that he had not seen such measures in place yet.
Almas Kabir said that ensuring high speed broadband internet at the root level would be another vital factor as it would not be possible to develop high-end software and ICT-products with the existing internet ecosystem.
At present, a very small segment of the population has access to broadband, he said.
Out of the country’s 11.11 crore internet users, only 86.56 lakh people have broadband connectivity as the remaining population of 10.25 crore use low-speed mobile internet.
Mustafa said that a number of initiatives were underway to take broadband connectivity to all unions across the country by 2021 while connecting villages would depend on the demand and supply situation.